Boy Scout Troop 4 Gets New Home

Boy Scout Troop 4 has left its Westborough meeting space, but not ended its commitment to serving the town.

The troop of Westborough and Shrewsbury scouts has met twice at Shrewsbury's American Legion Ray Stone Post since Jan. 1, according to Eric Lebow, one of the troop's parent volunteers.

The Legion post chartered the troop after Westborough's Good Shepherd Lutheran Church notified the troop this fall that it would not renew its charter, although "not for anything we have done," Lebow said Monday. The Scouts had to leave by Jan. 1.

Troop 4 will hold two open houses for interested families: at 7 p.m. Jan. 30 and Feb. 27.

"We still will try to bring Westborough kids to our troop," Lebow said.

"The Cub Scout packs that are currently there, I want them to know that just because we're in Shrewsbury doesn't mean that they have to say they can't go there."

Westborough has three Boy Scout troops: 4, 100 and 382.

Troop 4 had met mostly at Good Shepherd since the troop's inception in 1971, Lebow said.

Troop leaders did an "exhaustive search, predominantly in Westborough, for a new chartering organization," Lebow said.

The Shrewsbury Legion Post reached out, and said, "'Come talk to us, because we'd love to have you,'" he said.

"We voted. And every family got a vote. And even with more families representing Westborough, the vote was still to go to the Shrewsbury home," Lebow said.

"We're ecstatic now. They've been terrific with us."

Troop 4 has 43 Scouts, about 60 percent of whom are Westborough residents, Lebow said.

"The numbers have been on the decline the last couple of years, because it's been very, very tough to get new scouts," he said, but with "fewer Cub Scouts, by proxy you're getting fewer people that are advancing."

"Shrewsbury has several full Cub Scout packs. So, we think we'll be able to draw big numbers from there."

Shrewsbury Cub Pack 62 also meets at the Legion hall, Lebow said.

"Part of the boys' growth is to mentor the Cub Scouts, and to be there for the Cub Scouts," he said.

"To have a feeder pack that's right there is fantastic."